If you decide to visit A Woman’s Place, at the Belmont Gallery of Art through March 10th, be prepared to experience a range of emotions: anger, surprise, bemusement, and, perhaps, a #metoo moment. Also, plan to spend considerable time at the exhibit since each piece in the show is accompanied by an artist statement that amplifies its visual element and adds context to the work. This is a show that must be savored slowly, not hurried through.

Dresses Closeup – Kimberly Becker

Curated by artist Kimberly Becker, originally as a requirement for her master’s thesis, the exhibit quickly morphed into something bigger with the support of Rebecca Richards, the gallery’s administrator. Richards commented: “I was enthusiastic about Kimberly’s idea from the start. As a feminist and as someone who participated in the 2017 Women’s March, I had been wanting to acknowledge the anniversary of that historic event by having a show about women/women’s lives and women’s art. When Kimberly approached me about her House Dress Project, I said yes immediately and later tapped her to curate a full gallery exhibit of feminist-inspired art–the end result being A Woman’s Place. The resulting exhibit is quite powerful and truly speaks to being female in 21st century…”

Bra and Garter Belt – Diane Franklin

The exhibit consists of two parts. One gallery is devoted to the House Dress Project, consisting of 16 ethereal, white silk “house” dresses. Each dress has a painted picture of a house on the front and a story embroidered on the back. The stories are compelling tales of women who have been marginalized, humiliated, disrespected or otherwise treated badly because of their gender. A few stories are redemptive, but most repeat the familiar pattern that women know so well. The second gallery features the work of 14 women artists working in a variety of media, including textiles, mixed media, painting, sculpture, and drawing.

In choosing the participants for the exhibition, Becker sought artists whose work related to current issues but in a nuanced way. She hoped to find pieces that would encourage dialogue and conversation about difficult issues rather than merely provoke. Fortuitously, Becker was aided by the emergence of the #metoo movement, which brought previously unacceptable topics out in the open and allowed a gallery in a public space, Belmont Town Hall, to show work that might not have considered acceptable at an earlier date.

Family Secrets, Back – Diane Franklin

The work of the 14 participating artists is quite wide ranging in terms of both content and artistic media. One piece by Michèle Fandel Bonner is particularly striking. Family Secrets is a two-sided piece, consisting of samples of old, rather banal tapestries and embroideries stitched together into a “pretty” drape. The back of the piece, however, tells a different story. On that side, there are tales of mayhem and murder and other kinds of family dysfunction usually hidden from view.

Family Secrets, Front – Diane Franklin

In a completely different vein, Ingrid Goldbloom Bloch has created sculptures of women’s undergarments out of found materials such as radiator covers and other metals. Her artist statement notes that “the cultural norm is [that] a woman’s body is more important and has more currency than her brain. Women have moved from the confines of a corset to the norm of Victoria’s Secret.” Her metal underwear humorously depicts this new norm.

Another artist, Elena Brunner, has made a series of 7-foot drawings of large, imposing men, such as police officers and fire fighters. These drawings, through their sheer size and bold depictions, evoke the feelings of fear and powerlessness that women often feel when confronted by such men. They also graphically depict the ways society institutionalizes power in men and gives them the means by which to enforce this power.

In addition to featuring artwork, the exhibition also includes a series of Sunday salons, occurring every other weekend through the end of February. The intent of these events is to encourage further conversations about the artwork and the themes of the show.

For more details about the exhibition, including its opening hours and the topics of the Sunday salons, visit the Belmont Gallery site.

This is the story of two women’s quests. One is the quest of Nell Battle Booker Sonneman, the author and visionary behind a worldwide journey to find applique in the far reaches of the world. The other journey is that of Patricia Malarcher, the writer and editor who started with a pile of notes and images and has created a legacy. This is Patricia’s story in her own words.

“Wings of a Ragtag Quest” was published more than ten years after the death of its author, Nell Battle Booker Sonnemann. As the editor assigned to work on the book, I felt the satisfaction of a large task completed. Then, the inevitable question arose. Will this matter to anyone else?

A boxed set of twelve travel journals, the book records Sonnemann’s intrepid search for traditional applique in the Canadian Arctic, the Peruvian Amazon, Syria, India, and other countries in remote parts of the world. When failing health prevented her from traveling further, she commissioned friends to continue her quest and contribute to the book. Thus, the joys and perils of searching for a disappearing art form on four continents were recorded by a medley of voices. During the period of investigation, 1975-1997, most of the destinations were not approachable from the gentrified perspective of academic tours, offering readers a glimpse that they would typically never see.

“Wings. . .” is not the comprehensive scholarly survey that Sonnemann initially envisioned. From the start, unexpected obstacles — e.g., government restrictions or misunderstandings when appliqué makers’ agendas conflicted with hers—thwarted meticulously plotted itineraries. Nevertheless, persistence and belief in the mission led to serendipitous detours, chance discoveries, and rewarding encounters with artisans that could not have been planned. The ultimate scope of the project exceeded Sonnemann’s early expectations; she died before it was finished. She left unedited manuscripts in diverse styles, hundreds of slide photographs, boxes and folders filled with notes and correspondence. Finding a format that would bring these together was a daunting but irresistible challenge.

Wings of a Ragtag Quest

With invaluable assistance from Sarah Bodine, a book designer with a small publishing business, the motley assortment of materials was transformed into an artist book with multiple components, produced in a limited edition of 150 copies. It’s been finding its way into university and museum libraries as well as private book collections. It has also received positive reviews in American and British publications. My question of whether “Wings. . .” would have value for anyone other than me is being answered in the affirmative.

To the average person, knots are a tangled mass or a simple way to tie a shoe; to a 19th century sailor, knots were essential tools, a folk art and a measure of nautical speed. The exhibition THOU SHALT KNOT: Clifford W. Ashley introduces the universal world of knot tying with a surprising collection of nautical, domestic, military and creative objects that are multi-media, multi-cultural, beautiful, sobering, sometimes humorous, and relevant today.

The exhibition began as a tribute toClifford W. Ashley, a New Bedford area native, marine painter and author of the definitive book on knot tying, The Ashley Book of Knots, also known as the “bible of knot tying.” The exhibition title is not meant to be religious; rather, it reveals itself as a wonderful play on words.At the start, the title suggests that devotion and humor were necessary personality traits for Ashley to document more than 3,900 nautical (and occupational) knots with over 7,000 hand-drawn illustrations.

Special emphasis is given to nautical examples. Knot tying was at its prime in the 19th century when sailors, sail makers and riggers were the greatest experimenters with rope.At sea for years at a time with access to rope broken on the whale hunt, men became folk artists. Thou shalt not be bored. Thou shalt not waste rope. Thou shalt knot. (The other material available for folk art was whale teeth or bone to make scrimshaw.)

Ashley’s sample knots are cleverly displayed in-the-round, elevated and suspended on pins (up to fourteen incheshigh) like a collection of air-borne insect specimens or alien puppets (casting anthropomorphic shadows). With a copy of The Ashley Book of Knots availablefor reference, note the “ABOK” number on each museum label, then examine illustrations that dissect its topology. Be sure to visit the museum’s Learning Center for knot tying activities.

Ashley’s humor is evident in his book as heintroduced small icons (the emoji of their day) to indicate the merit of a particular knot. For example,“EASY TO UNTIE” is a pretzel and “DIFFICULT TO UNTIE” is a wedding ring, an amusing choice when “tying the knot” was slang for getting married.

Sailmaking was a man’s craft. To better understand the makers and their materials, Ashley’s painting “Corner of a Sail Loft” (1915) is a cozy view of sailmakers near a wood stove, seated at workbenches with tools close by and cloth in hand. Their concentration is clear but I am curious about their conversations. This appealing image provides a valuable context for multiple displays of work chests; sailmaker and knot tying tools; as well as cords or ropes of linen, cotton, and hemp.

The specialized terminology for knots, tools and knotted objects is filled with intriguing names that are as curious as the objects themselves: sinnets, harpoon, bodkin, seam rubbers, sewing palm, draw bucket, chest beckets, cat o’nine tails, and bell ropes. The common element among the objects is knots.Turk’s Head, Monkey Fist, and Sheepshank are exotic names for fancy knots; however, many knots were life-saving tools chosen by sailors with the instincts of engineers who understood their strength.

The use of functional and decorative knots is universal. From the collections of ship captains, there is a whale tooth necklace from Fiji and fearsome Kirbatian swords with shark teeth from the Gilbert Islands. Cat o’nine tails are beautiful then repulsive, as one realizes they were whips to punish sailors. Domestic lace and fishing lures were knotted. The related practices of braiding and weaving are represented by Victorian memorial hair work and decorative braid for a Massachusetts Volunteer Militia officer’s bi-corn hat.

The Whaling Museum has a panoramic view of New Bedford Harbor and its fishing fleet, but I really wanted to imagine a “greasy” or profitable wooden whaling ship. The Whaling Museum made that easy, featuring ships in progressive sizes.Contemplate a handsome painted portrait of the “Sunbeam” by Ashley, then go on to examine the same ship as a boat model one yard long. (Scale: 3/8 inches = 1 foot) In an adjacent building, walk on the 89-foot long “Lagoda,” a half-scale model, the largest ship model in the world.You might feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland at the changing perspective.My sense of perspective adjusted yet again when I noticed two sixteen-foot long industrial-strength rope fragments (suspended on the gallery walls) that served a Korean War ship and barge.

The exhibition continues into the 21st century with the work of artists who adopt ropes as metaphors for the human experience.

Inspired by the anatomy and sinewy tangles of an abandoned hawser or towing rope from a Korean War ship, Hugette Despault May’s created larger-than-life charcoal drawings “The Core” (2009) and “Umbilicals” (2009). The artist explains:

“In the drawings, I encountered abundant physicality: “muscle” “hairy-ness” and “sinew” which led to meditating on the many evocative rope-derived idioms and aphorisms embedded in the English language. These often referred colorfully and metaphorically to the human condition: “end of one’s tether”, “at loose ends” and “all strung out” being but a few examples. Beyond its former utility at sea, this industrial-strength tether has served anew as an elegant model for my graphical musings on the strands of our human strengths and frailties.”

Julia Mandle’s “Tied on the Bight” (2016) is a ceramic sculpture. The ‘bight’ is any slack part of the rope, curved or looped, between the two ends. After moving to the Netherlands, Mandle attended language classes and investigated her Dutch heritage. Studying at nautical museums, she realized that “…boats became like human bodies in my imagination.” Mandle adopted ropes as motifs in her own artwork:

“… My body of work also includes making and casting and coiling rope. I love its unwieldy nature. It seems to refuse to be controlled or regulated. The coils are awkward and to me express the longing and futility to attach to a solid ground…I hope to reflect my experience of moving, which has been a mixture of both struggle and opportunity, of holding on to familiar aspects of my homeland while shedding old ways of being and embracing a new sense of freedom to reinvent myself in a new land.”

THOU SHALT KNOT: Clifford W. Ashleyexcels as it links Ashley’s work to utilitarian, industrial and artistic endeavors. The excellent exhibition catalog examines Ashley’s career, links Ashley to Melville, includes an excerpt from “Why knot? by Philippe Petit, and connects knots to science and mathematics. Ashley would have been impressed by the emergence of topology as an important branch of mathematics and the discovery of elegant “molecular knots” in DNA strands, proteins and polymers. Ashley’s passion for knots began with hands-on discovery as a child; in turn, his book encourages visual, logical and creative thinking skills. Why knot? Because knots have the power to connect the creative hands and minds of craftsmen, artists, mathematicians, scientists and people like you.

The exhibitionwill continue at the New Bedford Whaling Museum until June 2018.

]]>http://fiberartnow.net/thou-shalt-knot/feed/0Felt Making Adventure in Hungary!http://fiberartnow.net/felt-making-adventure-in-hungary/
http://fiberartnow.net/felt-making-adventure-in-hungary/#respondMon, 13 Nov 2017 17:20:02 +0000http://fiberartnow.net/?p=39052Flóra Carlile-Kovács shares her rich cultural history and builds community through her Hungarian felt tours. Because she is a Fiber Art Now partner, we’re able to get the back story. Enjoy!

In one of my workshops in the Pacific Northwest, my students came up with the idea that I should organize a Felt Tour to Hungary, as I am a felt artist and instructor, and a native of the country. In this tour, they could learn from the amazing Hungarian felt masters, and also, travel in the country with like-minded people, try our delicious foods, visit Turkish baths and historic sites, antique- and contemporary craft markets, and wonderful places no guide books even mention. This dream soon become true; I led my first Felt Tour to Hungary in 2016. It was so well-received, that I offered two Felt Tours in the spring of 2017, with different focuses on the workshops and in different parts of the country.

In the East-Hungary Tour, we visited small towns of the Eastern part of Hungary, and took 3 one-day and 1 two-day workshop from world-class felt masters. These were project-oriented classes that build on one another, and featured various felting techniques both in 2D and 3D designs. Participants made small and large objects; these included a bottle holder with nomadic design instructed by Mihály Vetró, 3D home decor instructed by Márti Csille, felted jewelry instructed by Judit Tóth-Pócs, and a prefelt pillow cover instructed by Gabriella Kovács. It speaks for the instructors, that both beginner feltmakers were able to succeed in the classes and advanced students could still learn a lot!

In the West-Hungary Tour, we visited some wonderful historic sites of the West side of Hungary, took 1 two-day workshop and 1 three-day workshop from internationally recognized felt masters. Both the felted bag with woven inlay instructed by Vanda Róbert and the sculptural hat instructed by Judit Tóth-Pócs workshops were advanced felting projects, but even those who decided to take their first felt workshops just prior the tour (to get the most out of it), succeeded!

These tours have become much more than just a guided tour for me. It has become my mission to introduce outstanding Hungarian artists, craftsmen, amazing people and places to my guests, and to give a personal insight of my home country in just twelve days.

To get the itineraries and more info about the 2018 Felt Tours, or register, please email me (carlile.kovacs@gmail.com). Hope to see you on one of the tours!

Thank you, Flora, for sharing your tour and your rich cultural history! Please consider joining one of the next tours in 2018!

]]>http://fiberartnow.net/eif17finalselections/feed/0Gender Bend: Women in Wood, Men at the Loomhttp://fiberartnow.net/gender-bend-women-in-wood-men-at-the-loom/
http://fiberartnow.net/gender-bend-women-in-wood-men-at-the-loom/#respondFri, 13 Oct 2017 14:03:10 +0000http://fiberartnow.net/?p=38622Reserve your tickets now for the Saturday, October 28 opening party and curator talk!Fuller Craft Museum: Gender Bend: Women in Wood, Men at the Loom is a multi-media exhibition featuring male weavers alongside female wood turners – two populations that have been traditionally underrepresented in their fields. This project will introduce the public to remarkable artists who challenge our long-held perceptions about their chosen fields, while encouraging new practitioners to consider mediums rich in possibility. The visually resplendent exhibition offers wide appeal across all audiences, providing multiple programming opportunities geared to engage our patrons during the exhibition’s run and beyond. Jon Eric Riis and Tib Shaw are co-curators.

“Gender Bend: Women in Wood, Men at the Cloth is a rich, lush exhibition that features the superb work of female woodworkers and male tapestry weavers. By shining a light on two populations that have been underrepresented in their fields, we challenge the longstanding presuppositions about art, craft, utility, and the role of certain individuals for certain tasks. At the same time, the works clearly brim with mastery and creativity, showing the heights that are possible in the actions of the loom and the lathe.” ~Beth Mclaughlin, Curator, Fuller Craft Museum

]]>http://fiberartnow.net/gender-bend-women-in-wood-men-at-the-loom/feed/0Textiles & Georgia O’Keeffehttp://fiberartnow.net/38608-2/
http://fiberartnow.net/38608-2/#respondFri, 13 Oct 2017 12:54:42 +0000http://fiberartnow.net/?p=38608The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) presents one of America’s most iconic artists in a new light. Georgia O’Keeffe: Art, Image, Style is the first exhibition to explore O’Keeffe’s unified, modern aesthetic and distinctive self-styling by presenting her paintings with her never-before-exhibited handmade garments and photographs of the artist. Organized by the Brooklyn Museum and guest curator Wanda M. Corn, Robert and Ruth Halperin Professor Emerita in Art History, Stanford University, this critically-acclaimed, nationally touring exhibition is on view at PEM from December 16, 2017 through April 1, 2018.

“For more than 70 years, Georgia O’Keeffe shaped her public persona, defied labels and carved out a truly progressive, independent life in order to create her art,” says Austen Barron Bailly, organizing curator and PEM’s George Putnam Curator of American Art . “ O’Keeffe recognized that how she dressed and posed for the camera could signal an alliance between her attire, her art, and her home . Her aesthetic legacy of organic silhouettes, minimal ornamentation and restrained color palettes continues to capture the popular imagination and inspire leading designers and tastemakers of today.”

Through 125 works, Georgia O’Keeffe: Art, Image, Style examines how the renowned artist adeptly crafted her image in the public eye. “O’Keeffe considered her clothed body as another canvas on which to proclaim her modernism,” says Bailly . “ The exhibition expands our understanding of O’Keeffe, exploring how she expressed her identity and artistic values.” O’Keeffe’s androgynous persona, feminist outlook, stark fashion sense and skill as a seamstress combine to create a new understanding of her role as an artist and an individual.

Throughout her life, O’Keeffe had strong opinions about how she wanted to look, no matter what the dress codes of the era dictated. O’Keeffe’s distinct aesthetic sensibility can be traced from her school age rebellion against prevailing feminine ornamentation; to her New York years in the 1920s and ‘30s when a black-and-white palette dominated much of her art and dress; to her later years in New Mexico, when her art and clothing changed in response to the Southwestern landscape. Whether sewn by O’Keeffe herself, custom made, or bought off the rack, she consistently favored the simple lines and abstract forms that also reverberated through her artwork and home design.

Photography played an enormous role in solidifying O’Keeffe as a pioneer of modernism as well as an immediately recognizable style icon. A multiyear, serial portrait project with her husband Alfred Stieglitz ultimately helped O’Keeffe become the most photographed American artist of the 20th century and contributed to a wider understanding of photography’s power to shape public image.

As a unique tribute to Georgia O’Keeffe and the Georgia O’Keeffe: Art, Image, Style exhibition, the PEM Museum Store has asked Cupcake International (Brenda Lee) on Cape Cod to designed four outfits inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s garments in the exhibition.

PEM Museum Store has asked Cupcake International (Brenda Lee) on Cape Cod to designed four outfits inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s garments in the exhibition.

The addition of select fiber pieces in this exhibition that were designed and owned by O’Keeffe as well as the outfits designed specifically for the exhibition makes this a special event. Learn more.

“In my career, it has been my experience that one event can lead to another, connecting to more opportunities and taking you somewhere you had never imagined.

Being involved with Excellence in Fibers was one such event. My work was selected for inclusion in Excellence in Fibers 2016 and it appeared on the cover of the EIF issue. The piece was also subsequently shown at the New Bedford Art Museum and at Highfield Hall, and then, directly because of this exposure, was sold to a collector.

But this is not the end of the story. I was subsequently contacted by another collector who had seen my work at Highfield Hall, and she purchased one of my other fiber sculpture pieces. She told me that she is going to connect me to a fellow collector that she is friends with, so it is still an ongoing story.

My association with Excellence in Fibers/Fiber Art Now has had a very positive influence on my career and I cannot thank the team enough. I believe that for an artist it’s very important to accept any opportunity for exposure. Very significantly, Excellence in Fibers is a publication that not only promotes your work throughout the world, but their associated shows also open up additional opportunities to advance your exposure. You never know what can happen!”

Many thanks to Mariko Kusumoto for sending us her Excellence in Fibers story.

Excellence in Fibers is an annual submission opportunity sponsored by Fiber Art Now. It is a project that is designed specifically to maximize opportunities, including getting selected work shown in a respected venue; shared with decision-makers in fibers and fine craft; seen by jurors who have reach in fibers, fine craft AND the art world in general; win actual prize money; get your work on the short list for inclusion in Fiber Art Now magazine; and be added to an international publication with worldwide reach, subscribers, newsstand sales, and gallery sales. View the 2017 Juror Group.

I’ve always loved the feeling of thread passing through my fingers. When I was a little girl I learned how to crochet and do needlepoint. In high school I moved on to counted cross-stitch and knitting. In college I was inspired by a crazy quilt and started to make one. After college I wanted to turn my cats fur into thread so I could embroider it onto my quilt. I learned how to spin yarn and that’s how I found my favorite medium.

The act of making my own yarn became a form of mediation and self-expression. I could choose how to craft any yarn I wanted: from the fibers I started with, the thickness and consistency of it, and, my other passion, playing with the colors in the yarn by dyeing it. The act of watching fiber turn into yarn mesmerized me; it is a magical transformation process.

I chose to pursue learning all aspects about yarn making by enrolling in the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners Spinning Certificate Program held at Flemming College in Haliburton Ontario Canada. I would make a trek up every summer for six consecutive summers, a six-hour drive by car, to spend nine days studying from Master Spinners on various topics like how to select a fleece, dye the fiber, prepare the fiber, spin the fiber, and transform the fiber into fabric. After intense instruction I would travel back home and spend two to three hundred hours a year on homework assignments that would be mailed to the instructors. At the end of that journey I earned a Spinning Certificate with distinction.

More than half of the spinners that start the program don’t complete it. It’s a daunting task to dedicate so much of one’s time to one craft, and as a fiber artist I have many loves! Those that do complete it, however, can choose to go even further and complete an in-depth study on a topic of their choosing to earn the title Master Spinner. This was the path that I chose.

In addition to my love of yarn, I also love color. By day I am a high school art teacher and sharing my passion about color with my students is one of my favorite things. It was no surprise then that exploring color outcomes became the focus of my study. How many ways could a spinner approach working with color in their yarns to get different color outcomes? (photo 2) For the study I developed twenty samples and three final projects. I documented my study in a book I wrote called “A New Spin On Color”.

Now that all of my training is complete, and I am officially a Master Spinner, I am excited about the prospects of what lies ahead. I plan on continuing to study color as it applies to the fiber arts and to find ways to share my passion about color with others through books, workshops, and my art.